NFL (2025 Season)

[epzik8]

As a certified Eagles hater, their Positivity Bunny absolutely sends me.

[NWI_Irish96]

Bears probably safely in the playoffs with a split and possibly win the division.

I, and everybody else in Bear Down Nation, look forward to the day Caleb Williams makes his playoff debut. Who knows how far they'll go, but for right now, they're tops in a very tough division that figures to also send the Packers and Lions to the postseason as well. Unfortunately for the Vikings, they'll have to wait til next year, but it's not like they're 1-11 or anything (4-8 as of today, and could easily play spoiler to the contenders).

Somehow Caleb makes better throws while improvising than when going through his reads. Part of me wants to see them stop calling plays and just let him make shit up as he goes.

[thspfc]

Super excited for this Bears/Packers game. Been waiting 12 years for that rivalry to be relevant. It reminds me of when Michigan finally became competitive vs. Ohio St a few years ago.

[Max Rockatansky]

The Bengals were looking like a completely different team until Joe Burrow threw interceptions on consecutive plays.  And now things are still a game with the Bengals getting a touchdown with 2:13 left on the clock.

[Great Lakes Roads]

Week 14 update-

AFC East- Patriots
AFC West- Broncos
AFC North- Steelers
AFC South- Jags

NFC East- Eagles
NFC West- Rams
NFC North- Packers
NFC South- Buccaneers

AFC Wildcards- Bills, Texans, Chargers
NFC Wildcards- Bears, 49ers, Seahawks

Eliminated AFC teams: TEN, NYJ, MIA, CLE, LAS, CIN, IND, KC, BAL
Eliminated NFC teams: NO, NYG, ARI, WAS, MIN, ATL, DAL, CAR, DET

[Great Lakes Roads]

The Bengals were looking like a completely different team until Joe Burrow threw interceptions on consecutive plays.  And now things are still a game with the Bengals getting a touchdown with 2:13 left on the clock.

And... they still lose the game! The Bengals' season is pretty much over.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Vikings throttle the Commanders. Too little, too late, but I'll enjoy the good moments as they come.

[webny99]

Bears probably safely in the playoffs with a split and possibly win the division.

I, and everybody else in Bear Down Nation, look forward to the day Caleb Williams makes his playoff debut. Who knows how far they'll go, but for right now, they're tops in a very tough division that figures to also send the Packers and Lions to the postseason as well.

I wouldn't be so sure about that last part. The NFC North and NFC West can't *both* send three teams to the playoffs, so something has to give.
There is a definite possibility of Bears-Lions being a loser-goes-home game in Week 18. That could even be the regular season finale if things play out right.

[webny99]

Things are looking very grim for the Colts after falling out of the division lead with today's loss to the Jaguars.

After looking like one of the best teams in the league early this season, they'll now have to go at least 2-2, possibly without their starting QB, against a brutal remaining schedule (Seahawks, 49ers, Jaguars, and Texans) to even make the  playoffs.

[Great Lakes Roads]

Things are looking very grim for the Colts after falling out of the division lead with today's loss to the Jaguars.

After looking like one of the best teams in the league early this season, they'll now have to go at least 2-2, possibly without their starting QB, against a brutal remaining schedule (Seahawks, 49ers, Jaguars, and Texans) to even make the  playoffs.

And the Texans are now in the playoffs hunt after they beat the Chiefs tonight!

[Max Rockatansky]

Don't the Chiefs now only have something like a 10% chance of making the playoffs now?  They looked absolutely horrible on offense tonight.

[CoreySamson]

KC is a 3 to 4 point favorite against Houston and for several justifiable reasons:  The Chiefs have the better offense; they have home-field, the crowd, & weather advantage; they know these Texans very well (having beaten them twice a year ago); they have the NFL's desire to see the Chiefs in the playoffs; and with their season on the line the Chiefs are widely expected to play the best game of their lives to keep their title hopes alive for another week. 

Can our Texans defense keep our team in the ballgame or possibly even win it for us?  Stay Tuned -- Even though the Texans are my team, I'd be too foolish to bet against KC.

I feel like the Texans prove you wrong so often.

As for the game, the cardiac Texans never cease to make a game close. But I was downright cackling watching that last Mahomes interception.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Don't the Chiefs now only have something like a 10% chance of making the playoffs now?  They looked absolutely horrible on offense tonight.

They have a massive additional problem that even if they turn it around on a dime, they've lost to all three teams currently holding AFC wild card spots. They can still negate the Chargers' Week 1 head to head win if the Chiefs beat them next Sunday, but they're SOL on Houston and Buffalo. They effectively need Buffalo to lose out and Houston to lose 3 of their final 4 for the Chiefs to pass them.

The Chargers have a brutal final 5 games though - Eagles, at KC, at Dallas, Houston, and at Denver.

[mgk920]

Next weekend's Packers (9-3-1) @ Broncos (11-2) game . . . 

Mike

[thenetwork]

Next weekend's Packers (9-3-1) @ Broncos (11-2) game . . . 

Mike

And the Broncos came off of their first non-nail-biting game of the season!

[JayhawkCO]

Next weekend's Packers (9-3-1) @ Broncos (11-2) game . . . 

Mike

And the Broncos came off of their first non-nail-biting game of the season!

Next weekend's Packers (9-3-1) @ Broncos (11-2) game . . . 

Mike

And Packers are favored by 2.5 on the road.

[webny99]

They have a massive additional problem that even if they turn it around on a dime, they've lost to all three teams currently holding AFC wild card spots. They can still negate the Chargers' Week 1 head to head win if the Chiefs beat them next Sunday, but they're SOL on Houston and Buffalo. They effectively need Buffalo to lose out and Houston to lose 3 of their final 4 for the Chiefs to pass them.

The Chargers have a brutal final 5 games though - Eagles, at KC, at Dallas, Houston, and at Denver.

Yeah, the Chiefs are likely out of contention from the 5th and 6th seed for that reason.

However, they could get the 7 seed by passing both the Chargers and Colts, which given what you noted about the Chargers' remaining schedule and what I already noted about the Colts, isn't nearly as unrealistic as you might think. In fact, if the Chargers lose tonight, it pretty much makes Chiefs-Chargers next week a de facto playoff game.

[NWI_Irish96]

Daniel Jones' injury isn't going to be why the Colts miss the playoffs. The regression of both their OL and DL are the reasons why they'll miss the playoffs.

[jmacswimmer]

Bears probably safely in the playoffs with a split and possibly win the division.

I, and everybody else in Bear Down Nation, look forward to the day Caleb Williams makes his playoff debut. Who knows how far they'll go, but for right now, they're tops in a very tough division that figures to also send the Packers and Lions to the postseason as well.

I wouldn't be so sure about that last part. The NFC North and NFC West can't *both* send three teams to the playoffs, so something has to give.
There is a definite possibility of Bears-Lions being a loser-goes-home game in Week 18. That could even be the regular season finale if things play out right.

The Bears-49ers SNF matchup in week 17 could also end up deciding a wildcard slot if both teams trend toward needing a wildcard versus taking their division (which is how things currently stand). Agreed that Lions-Bears has the potential for week 18 SNF as well - debating a crazy idea of a last-minute roadtrip to try and attend, especially if it shapes up as a de facto-playoff game.

[webny99]

The overall playoff race actually looks pretty similar in each conference right now:

Likely 1-3 seeds
AFC: Patriots, Broncos, Jaguars
NFC: Eagles, Rams, Packers

Likely 5-6 seeds
AFC: Bills, Texans
NFC: Seahawks, 49ers

Competing for the 4 seed:
AFC: Steelers vs. Ravens, *Bengals
NFC: Bucs vs. Panthers

Competing for the 7 seed:
AFC: Chargers vs. Colts
NFC: Bears vs. Lions

On the fringe:
AFC: Chiefs
NFC: Cowboys

Potential berserker:
AFC: Dolphins
NFC: Vikings

[epzik8]

And now the Colts are reportedly trying to coerce Philip Rivers out of retirement. What a season.

[webny99]

KC is a 3 to 4 point favorite against Houston and for several justifiable reasons:  The Chiefs have the better offense; they have home-field, the crowd, & weather advantage; they know these Texans very well (having beaten them twice a year ago); they have the NFL's desire to see the Chiefs in the playoffs; and with their season on the line the Chiefs are widely expected to play the best game of their lives to keep their title hopes alive for another week. 

Can our Texans defense keep our team in the ballgame or possibly even win it for us?  Stay Tuned -- Even though the Texans are my team, I'd be too foolish to bet against KC.

I feel like the Texans prove you wrong so often.

I feel like that is by design.. but hey, you can't deny that it's working. 

[Max Rockatansky]

Take it from a Lions fan that sometimes having eternally low expectations for your team is a healthy thing. 

[jgb191]

I keep thinking this over and over again:  I imagine every NFL game is hard to win even for Super Bowl contenders....any team can beat any other team at any time.  The talent disparity in the NFL isn't as great as the fans and media make it out to be.  If the NFL Playoffs were hypothetically a best of seven series, Surely even the best record can lose while hosting the worst record in the NFL at least once (I can't even imagine any sweeps ever happening).  Having said that: three of the final four games for the Texans are home at Reliant/NRG Stadium, yet still the Cardinals makes me nervous next weekend when the Texans host them...the Texans have not had much success against the NFC West on the whole since 2009, and our offense is somewhat of cardiac arrest for us.


While the Texans defense is incredible, the world was reminded tonight of two other great defenses in the NFL the Eagles and Chargers -- turnovers and sacks galore on Monday Night.  Last year they were the two best defenses in the league that I believe should have been Super Bowl combatants (at least the Eagles actually were).

I feel like the Texans prove you wrong so often.

And I sincerely hope they continue to keep doing that time and again! 

[Henry]

I was just wondering: While the surviving members of the '72 Dolphins celebrate the last undefeated team's first loss, does the same thing happen with the '76 Buccaneers, '08 Lions or '16 Browns when the last winless team gets its first win?